(Bloomberg) — Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unveiled scores of new and upgraded defensive speedboats with a warning to the U.S. that it won’t shy away from challenging American naval power.“Today we announce that wherever the Americans are, we’re right there beside you, and in the near future you will sense us even more,” IRGC Navy Commander Admiral Alireza Tangsiri said on the sidelines of a ceremony in the Persian Gulf, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported Thursday.While battling sanctions and a major coronavirus outbreak, Iran appears determined to keep striking a defiant tone as tensions with the U.S. simmer. A month ago, President Donald Trump ordered the navy to destroy any Iranian vessels harassing U.S. ships, after accusations that the IRGC’s craft dangerously approached American military vessels in what U.S. Central Command said were international waters.It’s not clear if all the vessels shown at the ceremony were new or how many had been refurbished. The IRGC received a number of Ashoura and Zulfaghar-class vessels — the same models unveiled Thursday — from the Defense Ministry in March 2016, state TV reported at the time.Iran Ratchets Up Warnings to U.S. Over Tensions in Persian GulfEarlier this month, Iran’s regular navy lost 19 sailors in a friendly fire incident involving its own ships during a military exercise in the Gulf of Oman. The Guard is also building a new vessel that will be named after General Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq in January, according to Tangsiri.Hostilities between Iran and the U.S. have spiraled after Washington exited the multiparty 2015 nuclear deal that aimed to rejuvenate the Iranian economy and renewed sanctions on the country’s oil exports. It also designated the IRGC — the largest branch of Iran’s armed forces — a terrorist organization. Tensions almost spilled over into outright conflict after the U.S. killed Soleimani.The Trump administration says it wants Iran to agree to a tougher deal on the Islamic Republic’s atomic program, and to roll back its military reach in the Middle East, including through groups like Hezbollah. Iran says it won’t negotiate until the U.S. returns to the original accord.In its latest step, the U.S. on Wednesday ended sanctions waivers that allowed Russian, Chinese and European companies to work at Iranian civilian nuclear sites.“The Islamic Republic Iran will not back down nor will we bow before any enemy,” General Hossein Salami, commander of the IRGC, said in a speech broadcast on state TV. “Defense is our logic in war, but that defense does not mean passivity. Our operations and tactics are offensive and we’ve shown this in the field.”For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
from Yahoo Finance https://ift.tt/3d8W6za
Nareit Senior Economist and Former Federal Reserve Economist Calvin Schnure joins Yahoo Finance’s Akiko Fujita to discuss the most recent jobless claims as another 2.123 million Americans file for unemployment benefits.(Bloomberg) — Cisco Systems Inc. is in advanced talks to buy software company ThousandEyes Inc. for nearly $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.Cisco could announce a deal for the San Francisco-based company as soon as Thursday, said the people, who asked to not be identified because the matter isn’t public. No final decision has been made and talks could fall through, the people said.A representative for Cisco declined to comment. A representative for ThousandEyes didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.Under Chief Executive Officer Charles Robbins, Cisco has made acquisitions to boost its software and services capabilities. He’s trying to lessen its dependence on one-time sales of expensive hardware and shift toward the recurring revenue and higher profitability of long-term contracts.ThousandEyes could complement the business it’s developed around AppDynamics, which Cisco acquired in 2017. The company regularly touts the successful integration and growth of that former startup, which provides monitoring and analysis of software applications’ performance.ThousandEyes provides so-called digital experience monitoring software, which helps companies optimize the performance of their connected devices, according to its website. The company is backed by several venture capital firms, including Sequoia Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures and Salesforce Ventures.It has raised $110 million in financing to date and its last known valuation was $670 million last year, according to PitchBook.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.